Destiny of Russian Communist Party at stake

August 8 may become the turning point for Russian Communist Party as Justice Ministry will decide which one of the two Communist Parties will have the legal right to call itself so, said the leader of the “alternative” Communist Party Vladimir Tikhonov.

The leaders of the ”alternative” Party which was established after the recent dissent, seeks for cooperation with Russian authorities and promises to assist President Putin.

In the beginning of July two plenums of Central Committee of Russian Communist Parties took place in different locations of Moscow simultaneously. Then there were two Party Congresses. One Congress elected Gennady Zyuganov (the party leader since 1993) the Chairman, another Congress appointed governor of Ivanovo region Vladimir Tikhonov Chairman. For 20 days, Russian Communist Party has had two heads. Both Zyuganov and Tikhonov call themselves the only legitimate leader of Communist and accuse each other of seizing the power and forgery of documents.

The website of Russian Communist party was taken over by each of the parties several times, and then it took a break.

The leader of the “alternative” Communist Party Vladimir Tikhonov said that his Communist Party will pursue the policy of cooperation with the authorities. According to Mr. Tikhonov, “one can be in uncompromising opposition only if it is impossible to protect interest of the poor. If some problems can be solved, the policy of compromises should be pursued. Yes, I am a Communist, but there is another legal domain now. We should work in this domain”.

Meanwhile, the Communist being loyal to traditional leader Gennady Zyuganov blame “red oligarch” Gennady Semigin for the party dissent.

Well-known Russian politician, leader of Yabloko Party Grigory Yavlinsky made a statement that the “attack on Zyuganov’ Party is aimed at discrediting political and social life in Russia”. “Russian Communist Party has been our political and ideological rival, but in any case the authorities should not mock millions of voters of any party”, said Mr. Yuvlinsky.